I applaud West Ham's decision to take legal action to overturn Andy Carroll's red card. For too long the stuffed shirts at the F.A. have been allowed to get away with making this type of autocratic decision without explanation. Osei Sankofa, and especially Lloyd Sam are two Charlton players to suffer at the hands of the FA, and now they have decided to ignore the evidence and condone a ghastly piece of cheating, and it's time they were brought to book.
As much as I agree Chico Flores is a cheat who should be punished as well, I don't see the justification for West Ham taking legal action. What Carroll did, hitting him across the face, was stupid.
The Carroll decision was a complete joke adjudicated on by cardigan wearing old farts. I hope they all get sacked and replaced in future by 12 men and the odd exceptional woman from a sporting background. In law surely you must have to have an intention to injure or be so negligent so as to cause an injury. How is this not applied to this decision.. You can't have an deliberate intention to injure someone if you can't see them, if you back is to them or your off balance. To injure is to cause harm or damage, he barely touched the pasta munching mug. The character of the 'victim' must be taken into consideration and the 'victim' is Spanish' need we say more. Typical - attorney at law, where the foreigner is always wrong.
Cheatos ...sorry...Chicos behaviour sums up why I hate the EU, and slimy European cheats, with a passion. We would never have the likes of Cheato defacing our game were it not for Ted Heath. The sensible option would be to deport him. Sadly the Human Rights Act (Blair, don't get me started...) prevents us doing that.
The cheating is bad enough, but the FA has condoned it, which is even worse in my book. The play-acting is so blatant it would be funny if there wasn't so much at stake. I mean, when you're actually hurt, do you roll around? No, you lie still! The FA is trying to back-track now because one thing they fear most is transparency, and if it went to court they'd have to explain their decision openly.
The union seem to very quiet. Surely, such a obvious miscarriage should be rectified immediately or do they need a racial element to get involved nowadays. Peter Herbert we need you. It's a complete load of bollox. I am livid I have Carroll in my fantasy league team and have had to sell him, the FA don't think of things like that when they come up with the don't upset the foreigners rule. I think they should have the blood rule like in rugby. but even that could be open to cheating. Imagine a player bursting a blood cap secreted up his bum.
Unfortunately not. The appeal has been chucked out. So the message is clear, if you're going to cheat, make sure the ref buys it then you'll get your reward. No-one tell me the FA is serious about trying to stop simulation. Flores' histrionics were taken straight from the Rivaldo textbook- oh no, I forgot, he got fined £8,000.
I would like to see refs punish both players in a situation like this. Carroll was IMO guilty of hitting him, but Flores' reaction deserved a yellow too. There are plenty of occasions when there is a legitimate foul, but the player has also hugely exaggerated the impact/dived. Give the free-kick or penalty for the foul, but book the player fouled for play-acting as well. Does that sound like a cunning plan?
